


And Number Three Has The Magic Touch

by the_many_splendored



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, F/F, Family Angst, Fluff, Hair Brushing, I wanted to just write something cute, flashbacks to Charlie as a girl, just a little bit anyway, scalp massage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:22:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22810093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_many_splendored/pseuds/the_many_splendored
Summary: Charlie's hair has always been her pride and glory, but while Lilith and Lucifer tried their best to fix it up, it's only a certain Salvadorian moth-demoness that Charlie now trusts with her tresses.
Relationships: Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Lilith Magne/Lucifer Magne, Magne Family, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 103





	And Number Three Has The Magic Touch

**Author's Note:**

> I have long hair myself, and when combined with a sensitive scalp, there are only a few people I trust near hairbrushing duties. I figured if anyone understood that predicament, it would be Vaggie and Charlie.

**(1871)**

“But Mom!” little Charlie protests, “my hair looks fine! Why does it need brushing?”

“Because,” Lilith Magne says, seating her young daughter down in front of a vanity furnished in mahogany, “your father has an important event tonight, and I will not have you looking like a commoner!” She starts to pull Charlie’s hair out of a short braid that, truth be told, _is_ more suited for the playground than a ballroom. If she sees Charlie wince, she pretends not to notice. “We don’t have much time.”

Lilith pulls a large red hairbrush out of a nearby drawer and starts combing through Charlie’s hair with a brutal strength that belies her showgirl figure. Charlie knows not to whimper, but she lets out a notable sigh of relief when her mother finishes brushing and lets Charlie choose her hair ornaments. The young princess can admit to herself that with a black diamond tiara in her loose hair, she looks truly radiant. However, as she and her mother walk hand in hand to the party, Charlie asks, “Mom, can you teach me how to brush my own hair?” Hopefully this way, she won’t have an ache in her scalp the next time she wants to doll up.

* * *

**(1980)**

Lucifer Magne would never be mistaken for an doting father, but that doesn’t stop him from looking up from his newspaper in concern when he hears Charlie yell in frustration. Normally, his darling wife would be the one to check in first on their daughter, but Lilith is away on business on the other side of the Pentagram today. Putting down the sports section, he calls up the stairs to her room, “Charlie, what’s going on up there?”

“My hair is not cooperating, that’s what!” Charlie calls back. Lucifer rolls his eyes but gets upstairs and finds his only heir halfway into her demonic form, wrangling the same red hairbrush she’s had for a century and a big can of hairspray. “I’m going out with Ryan tonight and I wanted something different, but every style I try is just falling out!”

Lucifer can’t say he’s surprised. Charlie’s hair is now twice as long as it was when she was a child, and it has a curl in it that he and Lilith never had to deal with for themselves. Even if he’s not acquainted with the texture, he can at least tell that the usual beauty tools will be ineffective against such a heavy mane. He waves his hand and says in a dismissive tone, “All right, all right, no need to get in a twist, let your old man handle this, ok?” Charlie nods, her horns starting to retract as she catches her breath. Lucifer flexes his fingers as if he's preparing for a magic trick. "I can't believe after all this time that your mother never had you try this..."

"Try what?" Charlie asks, her face already back to normal.

"Spells, kiddo! For every problem that exists, there's a spell that can fix it!" The King of Hell makes a gesture with his hands and to Charlie's delight, the strands of her hair start to move independently. "Now tell me what you had in mind?"

Charlie describes something truly elaborate, and with her every word, the style starts to take shape. After two or three minutes, her chest-length hair is now pulled into an elaborate updo that briefly tugs at Lucifer's heart - it looks like Lilith's hair design on their wedding day. Charlie's grin is infectious, and with a smile of his own, her father snaps his fingers and the style locks into place. She squeals in delight and throws her arms around him. "Dad, this is so awesome!" She grabs her bag from the closet and starts running out the door. "I'll be back by 11!"

Lucifer's good mood at having managed a good deed, even if it was by accident, only lasts as long as his daughter's date. He's just switched to watching a television program when Charlie comes running through the door two hours earlier than expected; she's clearly been crying. Thankfully, Lilith has just gotten home, so she takes over checking on their daughter's emotional well being; it turns out that Ryan character had dumped Charlie in pretty heartless fashion. Lucifer starts to turn his attention back to the tv - if Charlie doesn't need him to smite the fool, he won't intervene - when he hears his wife sigh in annoyance. Straining to hear, he makes out the words, "Wait, what spell?" and realizes he might be in trouble.

The next day at the barbershop, the sympathetic stylist explains to the Magnes that while the spell used to set Charlie's hair was a classic beauty enchantment, it was just out of her texture range, and as such, it will need to be cut out. Charlie's a good sport about it, but Lucifer can't help a twinge of guilt when his daughter's long hair is converted into a chic but very short bob.

* * *

**(2020)**

Charlie and Vaggie are relaxing on the couch at the hotel, watching a movie. Vaggie has her arm wrapped around Charlie's waist, and the Princess of Hell is leaning just enough that if she were to fall asleep, she could rest her head comfortably on Vaggie's shoulder. Absentmindedly, Vaggie starts to card her fingers through Charlie's hair, but she winces a bit when she feels her finger catch on a tangle. "Ugh, sorry about that, honey..."

Charlie shrugs. "No worries, I'll take care of it before I go to bed."

"Are you sure?" Vaggie has seen for herself how long Charlie's hair care routine is, and if she could take some of that off of her girlfriend's plate, she'd be happy to. "It'll be easier for me to reach all the parts of your hair anyways."

"You're sweet, dear, but you know I don't let anyone else touch my hair," Charlie says with a yawn. "Two bad experiences with my folks was enough."

Vaggie hates thinking about how badly Lilith and Lucifer fucked with Charlie's hair and her self-image. Taking Charlie's chin and turning her face towards her, she asks, "Will you at least let me try to help?"

Probably because she's so tired, Charlie agrees.

After the movie, the couple retreat to their room upstairs, and Vaggie has Charlie sit on the edge of the bed. The moth-demon's preferred brush is black with silver accents, and as she starts to comb, she sees Charlie blink slowly. Charlie's been needing her rest since things with the hotel properly kicked off, so even though she would have been careful anyway, Vaggie moves even more gently than usual.

Instead of brushing all the way down from the scalp, she holds the offending strand of hair halfway down Charlie's back and works at the knot with the precision of a lockpicker. One advantage, she thinks, of being human in her prior life is that she learned from her own mother, wherever she is, to treat people's hair with respect. After she works the offending knot out, she takes her fingernails and starts to gently trace them over Charlie's scalp, humming some ancient tune as she does so.

If Charlie was pliant before, now she's utter mush in her beloved's arms. Leaning into Vaggie's chest, she lets out a contented sigh and says, "You're magic, I swear. You're on hair duty from here on out, you know that, right?"

"That's fine, dear." Vaggie leans down and kisses Charlie's forehead. "I do it because I love you."

"I love you too..." Charlie falls asleep soon after, Vaggie's fingers still dancing across the top of her head.


End file.
